Stencil unit.



W. E. CHOATE.

STENCIL UNIT.

APPLICATION FILED DEG. 7, 1907. 1,084,315, Patented Jan. 13, 1914.

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wzllanz E @hottie NITE STTES WILLIM E. CHOTE, OF MELROSE, MASSACHUSETTS.

STENCIJL UNIT.

Specification of 'Letters Patent.

Patented aan. is, 191e..

applicati@ fuea December 7, 1907. serial No. 405,509.

Zo all whom t may concern.'

Bef-it known that l, WILLLAM E. CnoA'rn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Melrose, in the county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an lmprovement in Stencil Units, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

'Fhis invention is applicable; to printing forms and the like such, for example, as stencil unitsused for reduplicating addresses and indexes and for analogous purposes.

lDrd-inarily', stencil or other units. of the character suggested, serve in addition to their duplicating ofice, as records or Indices. 'lhcinven-tion consists of various features contributing to improve such umts as regard's all4 the uses torwhich theymay be ap* plied. and which are defined 1n the annexed claims. .Y i

Figure 1 is a plan view of a complete exn emplar'y stencil unit; ig. 2 is a detail section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3` is a detail pers estive of a corner of the unit shown iin Flig. 1;; and, Fig. 4 is a plan view of the partially completed unit.

Fig. 1 of the drawings shows a completed stencil which the stencil characters are made in a .strips as shown sheet 10 of any suitable material such as paper, fabric, Celluloid or the like. Preferably the sheet 10 has reinforcing means or a frame 12 of a firmer material such for example as cardboard. The reinforcing means 12 may be formed by' removing from a sheet of cardboard or the like a blank of the size of the desired opening to constitute a frame (see 25, Figs. 2 and et). Heretofore stencil sheets have been attached to their frames or other reinforcement by glue or cement; While in the instance shown in Fig. 1 the sheet` 10 and illustrative frame 12 are secured together by metallic fastening means consisting of strips 16, 17, 18 and 19. Said are separate from each other and comprise pieces of metal folded over the edges of the assembled sheet 10 and frame 12, as shown on an enlarged scale in Fig. 2. lf the op ositely disposed wings of the mrips 1b, 1 etc., are sufficiently pressed together they may suce to fasten the sheet and frame 12 firmly together Without necessitating any other fastening means, such as anadhesive. lf desired, 'one or more of unit of convenient form in` the strips 16, 17, etc., may be provided with spurs 20 arranged to project into and firmly engage the sheet and frame. The strips 16, 17, etc., may have their ends turned in- Wardly to supply spurs 21, as shown in F 3;

F or purposes of convenience and economy in manufacture it is preferred that the strips be separate. Preferably they extend along the respective. edges of the unit and they may overlap. at their edges or may have meshing parts of any suitable design, in order to add toI the general stiffness of the finished unit.

ln Fig. Ll a sheet 10 and reinforcing means 1:2 are combined with strips 22, 22 having an interlocking orintermeshed construction at the corners of the card. This arrangement and the overlapping arrangement at the corners inA Figs. 1 and 2, supply sti'ening means at each corner such that the unit cannot be bent along a diagonal or the like, on a line which will not pass through part of the stilfening means with the resulting resistance to bending or breaking the card. At the same time the maximum thickness of the unit may be maintained uniformly having equal thickness of metal atall points.

lnFigs. 2 and 3 the blank 25 (z'. e., the

part to be removed from the reinforcing or frame material to leave the opening) remains in position Within the frame. With such an arrangement the reinforcing mater-iai., comprising the reinforce roper and the blank 25, presents a fiat sur aace on one face of the other face, the two being secured together by the strips as already suggested. This construction supplies a very convenient form for use with marking, punching or printing instrmnentalities of anypracticable sort; andfor this purpose the blank 25 of reinforcing material may serve as a platen or cutting bed, if desired. For example, if the device shown in Fig. 4 be placed. with its record.' sheet uppermost, and printing, stamping, stencihng, cutting or other tools be pressed thereupon firmly enough, an impression, perforation, or otherv demarcation will be madel upon the record sheet and may also be communicated through the latter to the adjacent face of the blank. lnthis manner two records may be duplicates, one serving conveniently for cross reference purposes or the like. Another method of utilizing such forms as are shown in Fig. 4' is to and the stencil sheet on the place them in a stack of two or more, with their record sheets down. If the died out blank'of the topmost in the stack be removed the record sheet will .be exposed thereby to receive'the action of proper stencil cutting or other tools and the opposed platen or cutting bed will be supplied by the died out blank o f the frame next beneath.

When the record units are manipulated in the manner suggested to be printed or punched, they may receive rough usage; and, accordingly, it is desirable to employ the stiffening strips to reinforce the units against wear and preserve them in `good condition. This is especially true in connection with automatic stencil cutting machines, to which units may be fed automatically to operative relation with the stencil cutting tools; and also with addressing machines in which the stencil units may be used. An arrangement of fastening strips 16, 17 etc. such as is shown in Fig. 1; and also a construction including the st-rips 22, 22 of Fig. 4, ives a strong, substantially rigid unit whic may be fed accuratelyinto a machine and during its feeding it may be protected from contact with any part except through the medium of its metallic rims.

It will be observed in Fig. 1 that each unit may have anjindex holder 30 which, for convenience, may be formed integral with a strip 16 or the like. The index holder 30 may have any convenient form to receive a removable index slip or the like; or it may itself be appropriately lettered. It will be observed that any break in the edge of fastening strips 16, 17, 18,- 1.9 or 22, as, for example, by turning up the index holder 30, or removing a portion of strip 22 to form a display opening 32,/ will expose a part of the reinforcing material 12, its edge for instance, which may serve for indexing or distinguishing purposes. This feature may be utilized readily by employing for different oups of stencil units or index f cards or t e like, distinctive colors of reinforcing material displayed at openings, such as the opening 32 (Fig. 4) Assume a group of stencil units for use in an addressin machine for addressing a periodical pu lication. lThe entire'group of stencil units may Ybe separated into subdivisions determined by the date of expiration of subscriptions. Thus one group might consist of the address stenc11s of subscriptions expiring in January. Another group of those expiring in February, and so on. Each such group might have reinforcing or frame material of acolor distinctive from the other groups, this color being displayed in any practicable manner, as for example through the opening supplied by bending up an index holderl 30 or by notching or otherwise breaking the continuity of the strip 22'or its substitute. In like manner ditferentcombinations of colors may be used in dierent stencil units or the like, as by having two or more different colored layers of reinforcing or frame material; all such arrangements as have been suggested are susceptible of use with stencil or other record units, such as are shown for illustration in the drawings.

Any suitable number of display openings 32, or their equivalents may be employed on a single unit; and their numbers'or positions Ymay serve to indicate some characteristic pertaining to the unit or may serve to distinguish from other units. These suggested indexing or distinguishing means are capable of wide variation and are applicable conveniently to many different uses.

The specific article above described may be made readily by a method embodying features of this invention as, for example, a method comprising the following steps: Assembling theY record sheet and the reinforcing material, as for a frame, while the latter 1s in condition' to supply a platen or cutting bed; next, additionally protecting the assembled sheet and reinforce material by means which may serve also for fastening them together; next making the desired record upon the record sheet in such a manexact sequence suggested nor, perhaps, are

all the steps necessary.

This invention is applicable'to many uses unnecessary to be mentioned herein and is also susceptible of embodiment in a varietyV of forms and methods. No attempt has been made heretoforeV to 'indicate the scope of the invention, this oiiice being delegated exclusively to the subjoined claims.

Claims:

1. An article of manufacture comprising a sheet to receive a record; reinforcing material connected thereto; and protecting means at the edges thereof, said reinforcing material including a blank positioned to serve as a platen or cutting bed to Oppose the operation of making the record on the sheet.

2. An article of manufacture comprising a record receiving sheet.; a reinforcing frame for said sheet; and platen means'removably fitting within said frame against said sheet for receiving the record of said sheet.

3. An article of manufacture com rising a record receiving sheet 10; a reinforcing frame 12 superposed thereon and containing a blank 25 serving asa platen or cutting bed; and metallic edge binding means 16,

1 0 strip.

L 17,r 18, 19 embracing 'superposed portions of saidrecord sheet and reinforcing frame.

4. An article of manufacture comprising a sheet to receive a record, reinforcing ma-- terial connected thereto, and includlng a sheet facing the record sheet, a bounding strip incloslng and in the plane of said facing sheet7 and protectin means 'engaging'. and uniting said record s eet and bounding 5. vAn article of manufacture comprising a record receiving sheet; cutting bed or platen means for receiving the record of provision for detachably connecting sai 'sheet and platen means in superposed relat-ion. A

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

' l WILLIAM E. CHOATE.

Witnesses: t f

LAURENCE A. JANNEY, Ronnx'r H. KAMMLER. 

